Invisible Bonds of Future Past
by luigi-dude
Summary: In a war torn future, two figures stand opposite each other atop a battle-scarred castle. The invisible bonds that shaped history will be revealed. A different take on the Fire Emblem Awakening future past DLC missions from the female avatar's perspective starting from her first meeting with Chrom and the shepherds.


_"Lucina, thank you for being my daughter__...__my most cherished memory…"_

In a war torn future two figures stand opposite each other, blades drawn atop a battle scarred castle. One cloaked in suffocating clouds of shadow. The other gleaming as a beacon of hope in a dying world, her stance firm and experienced, sapphire hair flowing in the wind and eyes burning with righteous fury. She had been fighting for so long to put an end to the madness, to reclaim humanities future and avenge her parent's deaths. Her name was Lucina.

Across from her was her mortal enemy, Grima. An empty soul living only to create hopelessness and death. The very cause behind the twisted future that Lucina fought so desperately to alter.

With her very being, Lucina mustered one last ounce of courage and strength charging headlong at her foe. The dark figure reading her movements perfectly, rushed at her with equal amounts of ferocity…

_In an instant it was over. Blades crossed, and blood was drawn..._

Lucina stood in silence, it seemed like the only audible sound on the battlefield was her own shallow breathing. Lucina's eyes remained fixated on the cloaked figure. Her exalted sword Falchion had pierced through her foe's abdomen, and it was clear the wound was mortal.

Lucina removed Falchion in a swift and fluid motion and returned it to its scabbard at her side. "At last…it is over" she whispered, "Grima is defeated, at long last we can live out our lives in peace."

Lucina's feelings of victory and relief were not to last, for when she removed Falchion, the dark shroud concealing her foe's true identity vanished in an instant. What Lucina saw was not a face of a demonic puppet glaring back at her, but the face of a soft beautiful woman whose hair gleamed like starlight. This face had caring eyes that seemed filled with regret and longing, eyes of a tortured soul Lucina thought had died many years ago.

"Mother!?"

Lucina's stance grew weak and her voice even weaker.

"Oh gods…no, not you...I had my suspicions b-but..."

Tears began to form in Lucina's eyes, it had been so long since she cried. All the years of battle and bloodshed had steeled her emotions, but nothing could have prepared her for this.

"T-they told me you were killed along with father and the rest of the shepherds, when Grima awakened… Oh gods, anything would have been better than this!"

The cloaked woman clenched her stomach and began to fall forward.

"M-mother!"

Lucina dashed over and slid underneath the woman to catch her before she hit the ground, cradling her in her arms.

_As they slowly came to the ground, the cloaked figure looked up at Lucina, and finally spoke__…_

"L-lucina..."

Lucina's eyes widened with an indescribable feeling of loss, so many emotions welled up within her that she could no longer control herself, finally her tears flowed freely.

"Lucina, thank you for freeing me from this torment." the woman slowly reached up to touch Lucina's face, but stopped just short and let her hand fall down to her forearm instead, grasping it tightly. She began to pull on Lucina's arm, dragging it down so Lucina's hand could rest on her stomach.

She stared directly at Lucina, her gaze shifting to the exalted brand in her left eye.

_As she stared__,__ tears began to run down the woman's face._

"It's hard to believe..." she whispered, "It's hard to believe that you were once right here inside, so small and fragile. Yet looking at you now, you've grown into such a strong and beautiful woman. Your father and I were truly blessed."

Lucina wrapped her arms around her and squeezed tightly, the tears still flowing freely.

"Mother I don't understand, h-how can you call yourself blessed!? You must have suffered so much in life, having to watch father and everyone else perish. Becoming Grima's puppet and bringing so much pain to this world."

The woman then did something that Lucina never expected. She smiled.

"Lucina, there is much you do not know. Much you do not know about me, your father, and the journey that we shared with the shepherds of Ylisse. You are my most cherished memory, and you deserve to know what happened to your father, what happened to me. How this hellish future you've lived in came to be."

"_When I first met your father, I was lying in a field. I had no idea who I was or where I came from…but somehow, I knew him."_


End file.
